


nightskyfish is typing...

by tsunderestorm



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 13:12:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11358216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsunderestorm/pseuds/tsunderestorm
Summary: To cope with their (seemingly) unrequited feelings for each other, Ignis and Noctis join an online dating site. Unbeknownst to them, their mystery boyfriends aren't complete strangers after all.





	nightskyfish is typing...

**Author's Note:**

> A non-kinky kink meme fill for what I thought was a super cute and fun prompt - originally posted [here](http://ffxv-kinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/3892.html?thread=4692532). Realistically this should be a 15k minimum slow burn, but longfic has never been my specialty.

This whole thing would never work, Noct just knew it. Prompto had told him there were other fish in the sea and that as like, the world’s _best_ fisherman, he'd catch one if he just tried. It wasn't what he’d wanted to hear when he vented to his best friend about his unrequited crush on his advisor but he knew deep down it came from a good place, knew he was right. Ignis would never see him as anything more than a charge, more than the prince he’d served for years. And gods, that hurt, but as Prompto suggested this might make it hurt less.

So, that was how he ended up on a dating site with a 97% match with this guy. His username was sagefire, which was...cute. Kind of badass, Noctis thought. It made up for the fact that he wouldn’t tell him his real name.

 **3:27 pm nightskyfish ::** i’m almost done with classes for the day

 **3:34 pm nightskyfish ::** you’re not answering must be getting really busy again.

 **3:36 pm nightskyfish ::** lol. getting busy. ;)

“Are you anticipating an important message?” Ignis asked as he saw Noctis slide his phone out of his pocket for what seemed like the hundredth time since picking him up from school five minutes ago. Never typing, just checking, growing increasingly irritated at each interval when he presumably wasn't getting the reaction he wanted. “You’ve unlocked and relocked your phone ten times already.”

Noctis sunk into the limo’s seat sullenly. “Nah, just checking on my trees. Don’t want the fruit to wither, then I gotta plant it again.”

“Ah,” Ignis acknowledged. “Very well, then.” Seeing Noctis so engrossed in his phone made the temptation to pull his from inside his jacket pocket even stronger, made his fingers almost _burn_ , like he could imagine the little jolt from each press of the keys on the touch screen as he responded to his message. He’d felt the phone vibrate several notifications throughout the day, but it was just so unprofessional to be absorbed in one’s phone when in the company of the Crown Prince.

(Besides, a voice in his head offered - why choose the substitute when the real thing is within your grasp?)

He pushed that thought away. It was a dangerous way to think, he knew. Gladio was the only person he trusted to share this with, the only person in who he could confide feelings that might otherwise run the risk of branding him a criminal against the Crown and he knew Gladio had told him to put it from his mind whenever it came up. Whether or not Noctis himself believed it so, the prince was Ignis’s superior, his charge. He was permanently out of his reach and the whole point of making this silly online account was to come to terms with that. Still, though, it was nice - he’d been chatting with this young man who went by Lucas for a few weeks now and he was really, honestly, _maybe_ starting to feel something for him and _maybe_ it could hold a candle to his feelings for Noctis, feelings that burned so hot and bright in his chest not even his immense amounts of focus and composure could quell them in any sort of halfway-proper manner.

When they got home, Noctis bounded out of the elevator and into his apartment, toeing off his shoes (irritatingly) just past the entryway and announcing his plans for the night. “Hey Specs, I’m gonna do my homework in my room, okay? Promise I’m actually doing it so, uh, you can leave me alone.”

Ignis sighed. “Very well, but don’t fall asleep. I’ll start on dinner.”

 **3:43 pm nightskyfish ::** hey, fire guy. i’m bored. what are you up to

 **3:45 pm nightskyfish ::** seriously? no answer, still?

 **4:12 pm sagefire ::** My apologies. My, my, you’re demanding. I was doing something for work. I believe I’ve stated it before, but my job is very demanding.

 **4:15 pm nightskyfish ::** yeah you said that. what do you do?

 **4:19 pm sagefire ::** I’m afraid that’s classified. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some more work to do.

 **4:20 pm nightskyfish ::** dammit :\ chat again later?

 **4:21 pm sagefire ::** Of course.

Noctis didn’t anticipate napping. He probably should have, considering it was one of his favorite activities, but he didn’t. He had meant to just put his head down on the pillow and flip through his phone, hoping that sagefire would find a break in his _super_ busy schedule and send him a message. He’d spent lunch break that day taking pictures - selfies, mostly - trying to decide which one to send to his...well, shit. What was he? His friend? His _boyfriend_? He didn’t know how to do this whole relationship thing, didn’t even know how to have friends - Prompto was easy, but he wasn’t sure Gladiolus would be his friend if he didn’t have to also be his Shield. And Ignis...gods, it was bad to think about Ignis. Ignis was the whole reason he had this online... _thing_ anyway. At least this sagefire guy didn’t always act so professional and stuffy with him when Noctis flirted, didn’t shy away when he made a joke that was remotely sexual because _boundaries, Noct_. Didn’t break his heart to talk to every day because he couldn’t have him. This guy actually liked him. He might actually have a chance.

It didn’t hurt so bad anymore, really. His heart still beat pretty fast when Ignis even _looked_ at him but he really liked his online boyfriend. He didn’t know he was the prince, so there was no weird class difference or anything. He just knew _him_. He knew he liked fishing, he knew he hated casseroles and could eat his weight in fruit but would die before he touched a vegetable. He knew the guy liked to cook and read fashion magazines for fun, knew he had a friend who was a photographer and a boss who occupied a lot of his time. Sure, he felt a little guilty because actually, the guy reminded him of Ignis in a lot of ways, but he was less serious. Less duty-bound. Less...unattainable.

He knew Ignis and Gladio probably wouldn’t like it if he was trading pictures with this guy online, but whatever. He’d been talking to this guy for a while, after all, and if he made him swear to secrecy not to go bragging that he’d been chatting with the heir to the Lucian throne then everything would be alright, right? Three and a half weeks, almost a month of chatting with him was enough time to get a good read, right? Weeks of late nights after Ignis left him alone, up until midnight or later chatting with this sagefire guy, weeks of checking his phone during class (which he _never_ did unless it was time to harvest one of his trees) just to see if he’d gotten a response. Weeks of Ignis looking over the rims of his glasses disapprovingly as he set aside his homework to answer a message.

When he emerged from his room, it was dark outside and Ignis was gone. There was a note on the counter - _Noodles in the fridge, sprinkle with water to maintain moisture and microwave for two minutes. See you tomorrow. -_ but that was all he’d left and Noctis tried not to be upset. He knew it was his fault for falling asleep, _again_ , but he liked the times when Ignis would relent and sit on the couch with him while he ate his really amazing food, liked the times when he could feel the warmth and solidity of his body beside him. He extracted the noodles in their neat container from the fridge and took a long look at the sparkling water Ignis said was better for him before snatching up a melon soda instead, tossing the noodles in the microwave while he pulled open his messages with his boyfriend-not-boyfriend.

 **10:12 pm nightskyfish ::** hey.

 **10:13 pm sagefire ::** Hello, love.

 **10:13 pm nightskyfish ::** so...i was thinking

 **10:13 pm nightskyfish ::** i don’t know what you look like

 **10:13 pm nightskyfish ::** and i kind of want to

 **10:14 pm nightskyfish ::** and i get that you said that wasn’t possible at first bc it kind of wasn’t possible for me either

 **10:14 pm sagefire ::** Yes, I recall that conversation. Discretion was of the utmost importance for both of us.

 **10:15 pm nightskyfish ::** well what if it isn’t anymore? what if i really like you and i wanna see you.

 **10:15 pm nightskyfish:** and i want you to see me

Noctis stared down at the “ _sagefire is typing_ ” message for what felt like an eternity, burning the memory of the bouncing ellipses into his mind, terrified he’d done something wrong.

 **10:16 pm sagefire ::** I’d like that, Lucas. Together on 3, I suppose?

 **10:17 pm nightskyfish ::** yeah. don’t freak out though, ok? just remember i’m me and that’s all. not anything else you might think right now or after you see the real me.

 **10:18 pm sagefire ::** I could never think of you differently. I’m sure you’re very handsome and it’s only natural that our relationship progressed to this at some point. I appreciate your trust in me very much.

Noctis had looked through his selfies and the ones Prompto had taken on his phone and judged them: this one was too stupid, that one was too serious, oh gods, in that one his hair was messed up. He’d even asked Ignis, lied and said it was for his social media he was _permitted_ to have, said he’d needed a new profile picture and wanted to know his opinion. Ignis had spent a long time looking, offered his suggestions - this one is very handsome; no, not that one, you look absolutely ridiculous; perhaps that one, Noct - and maybe liked to pretend Ignis had lingered a while over the one with his tie off and shirt unbuttoned down to his chest even though he knew he hadn’t.

Unsurprisingly, the winner had been one of the ones Prom had taken when he wasn’t even posing - he was at the arcade in front of the zombie game, the machine’s gun loose in his grip and a laugh bubbling out of his mouth. He’d died, he remembered, in the dumbest way and he guessed that’s when Prompto took it, immortalized that moment. It was the most _him_. The most _Noctis_ , not the prince or anything like that. It was the one he wanted sagefire to see.

 **10:20 pm nightskyfish ::** yeah. promise, ok?

 **10:21 pm sagefire ::** Cross my heart.

Ignis knew he was getting in too deep. He liked this boy, yes - Lucas was endearing. Bratty at times, but he didn’t mind bratty. After all, he’d been dealing with Noctis for years, who was bratty when he wasn’t sullen. Misunderstood, mostly. Lovable. But it wasn’t fair - he could lie with the best of them, but he couldn’t lie to a boy who clearly liked him so much. Couldn’t pretend to care nearly half as much about him as he did about the prince he’d devoted his life to at the tender age of five. He needed to call it off, but he was only human and being alone forever wrapped up in pining over his charge wasn’t the ideal way to spend his life.

He owed it to him to try, he thought, as he scrolled through his Facebook for a suitable picture, settling on one Prompto had taken a few weeks ago. In the boy’s words immortalized in a comment, he looked “smooth as all hell” and he liked the way he looked. Confident, strong, but still with the elegance he had always been proud of. Hopefully Lucas would like it.

 **10:25 pm sagefire ::** Alright, here goes nothing.

 **10:26 pm nightskyfish ::** same here. after you get this count to 3 and send it ok?

 **10:26 pm sagefire ::** As long as you do the same, you sneaky thing. Don’t think I won’t punish you if you don’t follow your own rules.

 **10:26 pm nightskyfish ::** ;)

Ignis had no trouble revealing himself. He had a high profile, demanding job, yes, but eventually he would settle down with someone, so if people saw his face it wasn’t the end of the world. He was more of a behind the scenes type of assistance to the prince, not someone like Gladiolus whose face would be in all the newspapers and tabloids next to Noctis as the bodyguard who would never leave him. He needed someone so people didn’t ask questions, needed someone to cover up the fact that he was hopelessly in love with the prince he’d sworn to protect and remain professional with.

It wasn’t as if _Noctis_ was the one chatting with someone online, wasn’t as if _Noctis_ was the one sending photos to a secret boyfriend. Gods, the thought of it...was painful. He knew he could never have him, knew Noctis wasn’t even interested but gods did the thought of him with anyone else burn him up from the inside. Noctis was the dream. Noctis was…

On his screen. Was he calling him? No, the phone would be ringing. But there was his prince, staring up at him from the small rectangle of light in his otherwise darkened bedroom, with his eyes so blue he could fall into them and drown and his hair affectionately messy, standing in front of the game Ignis believed was his favorite. Beautiful as ever even if his tie was too loose and his blazer was missing a button.

 **10:27 pm nightskyfish ::** oh my gODS

 **10:27 pm nightskyfish ::** your picture

 **10:27 pm nightskyfish ::** oh my fucking gods you have got to be kidding me

 **10:28 pm sagefire ::** Please tell me you are not attempting to fool me. Everyone knows what the Crown Prince looks like. I don’t appreciate being lied to or if this is your idea of a joke, I don’t think you’ll find me laughing.

 _nightskyfish is typing…_ bounced across his screen and Ignis was beginning to regret the whole ordeal. Not only had he been fooled, he’d been taken in by someone who really, honestly believed he was _stupid_ enough to not recognize the photo wasn’t only a fake one, but it was of the love of his life, no less -

 **10:30 pm nightskyfish ::** no one can fool you, specs

 **10:31 pm nightskyfish ::** seriously, you’re my internet boyfriend?

Ignis’s heart skipped a beat. This _was_ Noctis. This was who he’d been messaging for weeks, _this_ was the reason he’d checked his phone so obsessively.

 **10:32 pm sagefire ::** Apparently so, LUCAS.

 **10:33 pm nightskyfish ::** >.< it was close to lucis….

 **10:35 pm sagefire ::** You are absolutely, positively ridiculous, Noctis Lucis Caelum.

 **10:36 pm nightskyfish ::** yeah, yeah. heard it before. come back over?

 **10:37 pm sagefire ::** On my way.

Noctis felt like he couldn’t breathe. It wasn’t the same tightness spreading across his chest that came when his thoughts swirled too much and it wasn’t the same labored heaving that came when he worked himself half to death training with Gladio. It was different, like he couldn’t breathe over the lump of his heart in his throat. Uncomfortable, but in a good way. Making his skin flush, his head swim, making butterflies fluttering around in his stomach like they were desperate to gain freedom from their cage.

Ignis was his secret boyfriend. _Ignis Scientia,_ the object of his affections since he first knew what it meant to have a crush. The one he’d thought was unattainable, the reason he’d signed up for that stupid dating site in the first place and gravitated to the first guy who acted even slightly like him.

It was the kind of shit that could have been in a movie, Noctis swore. When Ignis got there he stepped in the room and Noctis knew right away he was serious because he didn’t even pause to trade his loafers for house shoes, just took two quick seconds to set his car keys on the counter before he was pulling Noctis into his arms. Devoid of the gloves he’d taken to wearing, his hands were soft and warm on Noctis’s cheeks, the same soothing weight that had rested on his back as he worked through his physical therapy and on his brow when he’d been sick with a fever. He looked up into Ignis’s face, his green eyes and his wide smile and noticed in a brand new light how handsome he was. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t noticed before, but now his face that seemed elegant was impossibly handsome, every mole across his sculpted cheekbones and neck a new place to explore with his fingers and mouth. His lips seemed softer than he’d ever noticed before, hovering inches from his own.

“I ain’t gettin’ any younger,” Noctis teased as he brought his hands to Ignis’s waist, rested awkwardly on his hips before sliding up to clutch at his shoulders and hug him closer. He was shaking because it was all new territory but he’d never felt more sure of anything in his life. “Are you gonna kiss me or not?”

This was _Ignis_. This was the boy who had stood in front of his father at the tender age of five and proclaimed his desire to serve as advisor to the prince. Ignis, the boy who had been the first one down the steps of the Citadel to greet him when they’d made it back from Tenebrae, Ignis who read over volumes of natural remedies to alleviate Noct’s pain and wean him off of the painkillers that had made him so lethargic. Ignis, who had taken the fall for him every time he snuck out and gotten reprimanded because of it, Ignis who had taught him the constellations and their stories behind them - pointed out Shiva’s smattering of stars in the north and read him the stories from a leather-bound, gold-leafed copy of Cosmogony, Ignis who had been his first crush, his first _love_ , his first fantasy. His first kiss, he thought as Ignis brought their lips together - his were pampered and smooth, lip balm-soft against Noctis’s own bitten chapped from boredom.

“Hey, Iggy?” Noctis asked between kisses, the few stolen moments Ignis’s lips weren’t flush against his, when his tongue wasn’t gliding along the seam of his mouth and flickign teasingly inside against his own. Smiling, he asked “Didn’t you agree with me that one time when I said your job sounded like a pain in the ass? Don’t think I forgot that.”

Ignis silenced him with another kiss and Noctis thought in that moment the whole online dating plan hadn’t been such a bad one after all.


End file.
